48-358 Down to Earth: Designing Modern Earthen Buildings
2–9 units, Carnegie Mellon University
Natural, and specifically earthbased building materials offer a minimally processed, nontoxic, and community selfsufficient alternative to conventional building materials. Building with natural materials maximizes the potentials of freely available resources, and often engages local communities due to their accessible application that can be achieved by almost anyone, even children. In this course, we will gain both theoretical knowledge and handson building experience related to earthbased materials such rammed earth, cob, clay plasters, and strawbale construction, to list a few. As part of the course, we will design and build a smallscale functional project while making a sensitive choice of materials, technical details, and participatory processes. By doing so, the outcome project would foster local economy, create knowhow to improve living conditions in its local context, and support a bottomup form of capacity development for and with communities. Guest lectures will complement the course lectures by providing insights from field experts.
Prerequisites: none listed
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